"Power Rangers Psycho Impulse"
Book 1.5: "Count Zero"
Chapter 1: "Twisted Transformer"
Disclaimer: The general concept of Power Rangers belongs to Saban, formerly Disney, and that same concept is owed to the general concept of Super Sentai, which belongs to Toei. I only own this story and the vast majority of the characters in it, and I make no profit from this story whatsoever.
Author's note: It's been five years. I apologize for that. The truth is that I lost my spark for this story. Right now, I'm uploading the last arc I had written already for this story to prepare you for the continuation under my dear friend The Amazing Shrinking Violet. Credit goes to her, and to my last reviewer for this story, for getting me to care again, even if I don't feel that same spark I used to. This will be where the Psychos get their own Megazord. Enjoy!
XIPHOS Base, R&D Room
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Ceres deadpanned.
"Yes, but are you sure the Rangers can handle them?" Miyuki asked.
Ceres turned to her longtime assistant and companion. "They will simply have to learn how to do so. Fortunately, that's why we have simulators."
XIPHOS Base, Simulation Room
Robin was in the air; that much he knew. He was inside the cockpit of his vehicle and flying said vehicle around a platoon of enemy aircraft. He twisted around the enemy aircraft as they fired at him and returned fire. He seemed like he was winning, until a glancing blast hit his wing. He desperately tried to stay in the air, but he was quickly bleeding altitude.
"No, no, no, no!" Robin screamed, following with a stream of angered curses.
"Abort simulation," the computer ordered. Suddenly, the sensation of falling stopped and the virtual environment faded out, replaced with matte gray. Robin stepped out of the simulator, which was a simple egg-shaped construct, and then kicked it.
"It's not the simulator's fault you crashed," Micaela remarked snidely.
"I never flew anything before!" Robin protested. "And I was flying just fine until that armada showed up!"
"Excuses, excuses." Micaela clicked her tongue. "Won't help you in the Nether."
Robin scowled.
"For all her needling, she is correct," Achala said. "You will have to learn how to adapt to and overcome enemy aircraft, or else you won't be much use in a fight."
"And how did you guys do?" Robin sneered.
"I cleared my objective," Achala replied. "How about you, Micaela?"
"I did well," Micaela replied.
Two more simulator chambers opened and out stepped Shango and Alaric, both looking winded. "And how did you two do?" Robin asked morbidly.
"I cleared mine," Alaric replied.
"I was successful as well," Shango answered.
"So I'm the only screw-up here, huh?" Robin mused bitterly.
"You need to think past your enemies, not simply attempt to overcome them physically," Shango advised. He looked at Alaric meaningfully after saying this to Robin.
"Any tips? Or are you going to spit platitudes at me?" Robin sneered.
Achala gazed at Robin. "We have been working on this for almost a month. You've improved over these past few weeks, but something is holding you back, isn't it?"
"Nothing is holding me back." Robin glared at Achala, only to look away sullenly. "I just . . . can't get the hang of this."
"You will need to get the hang of Zord piloting soon," Achala stated. "Otherwise, you will be a liability to the team."
Robin briefly graced Achala with an acrimonious stare before walking out of the simulator room. "This is total bull."
"The only bull is you," Micaela mumbled under her breath.
New York City, U.S.A.
Out of his uniform and in a black unzipped sweatshirt over a red shirt and dark blue jeans, Robin had left XIPHOS Base for the city. He was just taking a walk to clear his head, enjoying the sights the city had to offer. He figured he would go see a movie and he knew just the one he wanted to see. It was a movie about the divergence of humanity into two separate species, one still recognizable as "baseline" humanity and the other a "genetically superior" life-form with highly developed physical and mental abilities.
As he walked toward a movie theater, he passed by some costumed people who seemed as though they were attending an anime convention. He scoffed; just why was the Japanese stuff so popular here? And why did American television companies just air that stuff instead of producing their own, probably much better, material? No, he didn't think it was their ingenuity that made foreign products so popular, just lack of drive and invention at home.
Suddenly, the sound of detonation reverberated in the air. Robin looked and saw dark smoke and flame rising into that air. It didn't take him long to realize just what was happening, and he was about to run toward it, only to find himself awash in fleeing people. Robin fought his way through the frightened masses, only to see a half-destroyed shell where the theater used to be.
"Oh . . . oh, God . . ." Robin uttered. When he saw a human hand dangling from the wreckage, he violently retched.
"What's the matter, boy? Stomach run away from you?" a voice taunted him.
Robin whirled and saw a purplish-skinned humanoid creature with a vulture's head, goat-like horns growing from that head, hands like cat's paws, and a scorpion's tail growing from a hunch on its back. All in all, the creature made a very eerie and terrifying sight. Despite that, Robin had the courage to spit, "Your jokes suck."
"You think my jokes suck?" the creature asked. "Well, I'll just break your funny bone and tell them to someone else!"
The creature extended its scorpion tail to strike Robin, only for Robin to quickly morph and block the tail with his Psycho Sword. "Who are you?"
"Call me Chimerax!" the creature roared. "And you, my little red friend, are going to meet your end! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Psycho Red blasted Chimerax with lightning-tinged red flame, knocking the creature back. "You're not funny. What the hell did you do this for?"
"To draw you out, little Red Ranger." Chimerax laughed insanely, as though it was amused by what it had just said.
"You monster!" In a blur of superhuman speed, Psycho Red was attacking Chimerax with his sword. Chimerax simply took Psycho Red's attacks without flinching until it grew bored; then it grabbed Psycho Red's blade and threw him down the street. Chimerax made the throw with such force that Psycho Red was propelled all the way to the last intersection. At that point the twisted Red Ranger crashed through the back of a small building and fell down the cliff past it.
"God . . . dammit . . ." Psycho Red murmured. The armor had managed to absorb most of the impact, but what was left for him to take hurt a lot. He rolled over to his feet, just in time for Chimerax to jump after him. Psycho Red drew his sword and blocked Chimerax's attack, but barely.
"Oh, come on, Psycho Red!" Chimerax taunted. "Don't fall apart on me!" Another maniacal laugh punctuated his taunt.
XIPHOS Base
Ceres stared at the main screen of the central ops room. It didn't take her even a second to call in the other Rangers, who didn't take very long to enter. "Director?" Achala prompted.
"Mr. Murphy is in trouble," Ceres replied. "Go to his position and aid him."
Achala nodded and went straight for the vehicle bay, followed by the other Rangers. They each straddled the hoverbikes that bore their individual colors and started them up, riding out of the base and into the city.
Times Square, New York City
Psycho Red dodged Chimerax's tail yet again, only to be slashed in the back by the creature's claws. The twisted Red Ranger tried to get up, only for Chimerax to stomp on his back, directly on his wound. The creature ground its cloven foot into Red's back, eliciting ragged cries of pain from the Psycho Ranger.
"Must be some backbreaking labor, huh?" Chimerax quipped.
Suddenly, bolts of pink, blue, black, and yellow light struck Chimerax, knocking it off Psycho Red. Four hoverbike riders stopped before Chimerax and the Red Psycho Ranger, those riders removing their helmets and getting off their hoverbikes. The four riders were none other than Achala, Shango, Micaela, and Alaric and none of the four looked happy about what the creature had done to Robin, who had rolled onto his back and forced himself back onto his feet.
"Glad you're here," he groaned.
"What is this creature?" Shango asked.
"Dunno, but he slaughtered an entire movie theater . . . just to draw us out," Robin replied.
"Monster!" Micaela shouted at Chimerax.
"Yes, I am, pretty little lady," Chimerax replied. "Wanna ride the monster?" Yet another maniacal laugh marked its taunt.
Micaela growled angrily and raised her Psycho Morpher. "Execute Psycho Trigger!" The morph completing itself mere microseconds later, Psycho Yellow charged at Chimerax, firing her sling at it. Chimerax dodged her attacks, only for Psycho Yellow to tag it with a blast of yellow electricity. The other three Rangers morphed as well and joined Micaela in the fight, the four of them attacking Chimerax from all sides.
Just as it seemed the Rangers were beginning to hurt Chimerax, the creature lashed out with its tail and the tip barely penetrated Psycho Yellow's armor. The tip, however, did generate an electrical pulse that ran through Micaela's suit and overwhelmed her nervous system. Micaela collapsed, forcibly demorphed by the attack.
"Micaela!" Psycho Black shouted.
"I'll get her out of here," Psycho Red groaned. "Then I'll be back to finish this bastard off."
XIPHOS Base, Infirmary
Robin had picked up Micaela and teleported in a warp wave that carried him and her to XIPHOS Base. Once inside, Robin reverted to his human form, his injuries hitting him with such force that he collapsed on his knees. Struggling, he managed to get back on his feet and carry Micaela to the infirmary.
"What happened?" Miyuki asked.
"She's hurt," Robin replied. "That creature . . . it did this to her."
"What about you?"
"I promised I'd go back to finish the freak. I don't go back on my word."
"But you're hurt."
"Not as much as that freak's going to be." Robin turned and limped out of the infirmary, Miyuki watching him nervously. "Execute Psycho Trigger." Once morphed, Robin rode a warp wave back into the battlefield.
Times Square, New York City
When Robin returned to the battlefield, the other three Psycho Rangers were not in the best of conditions. The trio looked as though they had just sustained a terrible beating, which they probably had. None of them looked ready to throw in the towel yet, which was just fine by Robin, who ran up to them. "So . . . anybody ready to rip this piece of crap a new one?"
"How?" Alaric asked.
"Halberd," Robin replied. "But first . . ." He materialized his sword and handed it to Achala. "Go for it."
Achala picked up the sword and nocked it in her bow. She drew the sword back on the string, charging both string and sword with pink electricity, and fired upon Chimerax. The energized sword impaled Chimerax in the chest and those energies ran through the creature's body, eliciting howls of pain from it. Robin sped up to Chimerax and ripped the sword out, charging it with red lightning-edged fire and slashing the creature quickly and repetitively.
Alaric and Shango threw their weapons to Robin, who combined those weapons with his Psycho Sword to form the Psycho Halberd. Charging the gestalt weapon with his energies, Robin slashed Chimerax with the sword end and the axe end until Chimerax collapsed.
"You're dead," Robin snarled.
End Notes: Or is he? It seems like Chimerax is down for the count, but this is Power Rangers; the monster never goes down for good until the Zords come out. Speaking of Zords, you'll be seeing them in the next chapters. As to whether or not Robin and Micaela will fully recover from their injuries, you'll be seeing that, too. In the meantime, some commentary would be nice, and more apologies for leaving this story alone for so many years.